Roomate
by KittyThomas
Summary: Squall has a roomate but he doesn't realise it... set after the game, pre 'A New Promise' and my other fics. Rinoa and Squall. R&R please... I'll give cookies!


**Roommate**

**Disclaimer: Am soooooooo not owning FF8. Or any of the characters whatever. Wish I did, really don't.**

**A/N: Just a harmless little fic set sometime after the defeat of Ultimecia and the end-of-the-world-that-never was. Kind of shows a little of how Squall begins to change, and prepares you for the shockingly-different-smiles-on-occasion Squall of my other, later fics. Squall and Rinoa, of course. **

**.o0o.**

Squall had a roommate. It hadn't happened intentionally, but he had. It had all started the night after the Balamb Garden celebrations. Rinoa was sleeping on Selphie's floor, but try as she might, she couldn't sleep. Selphie kept getting up and done and walking around, humming softly to herself, stroking her hair and righting the room. Rinoa, full of thoughts of her own, simply couldn't sleep with such distractions, and eventually, with the pretence of going to the bathroom, she slipped out of Selphie's room and into Squall's.

"Are you awake?" She whispered.

Squall, who couldn't sleep either, almost leapt out of bed in surprise. "R-Rinoa?" He stuttered, "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep," she said, "Selphie kept disturbing me. Can I sleep here?"

"S-sure. I'll sleep in my chair-"

Rinoa came over to the bed and nuzzled in beside him. "Don't be stupid." She said, "There's enough room for the both of us for one night."

One night.

That's all it was, at first. They didn't do anything, just slept next to each other peacefully, snuggled together. In the morning, Rinoa got up early and slipped back into Selphie's room so there were no rumours about where she was and what she what she had been doing.

After that night, Selphie's sleeping patterns returned to normal and a spare bed was brought in for Rinoa's use, and she was quite content to stay there, until Selphie left for to go and visit Trabia during the holidays, and see what could be done to restore it.

The holidays… suddenly, all the dorms were empty, with only a few permanent members of the faculty and caretakers remaining. Irvine had gone off on 'his own _secret _mission', Zell had gone to Balamb to be with his family, and even Quistis seemed to have disappeared, claiming she was going to visit her old foster parents, but remained secretive on the subject. Squall and Rinoa seemed to left to themselves.

They'd be going out for a while by this point, and as one of them pointed out, they had saved the world together and done the whole I-would-die-for-you thing. They were in love. They were ready. Opportunity had struck gold. They didn't talk about it, it just happened one night, two months after the defeat of Ultimecia. Squall and Rinoa made love all through the night. Not a day in summer did they wake up without the other one beside them. It was all perfect.

When school started again, it was hard to force themselves to sleep in separate rooms again, but they needed to so the rumours (albeit, true ones) didn't circulate and to make sure they didn't give the younger students bad ideas. Rinoa took the lack of opportunity to take some time off to go see some old friends and visit her father, and when she returned, a miracle had happened; Squall had been promoted. Now, no longer regarded as a student, Squall had his own room away from the dorms in an old instructor's quarters. It no longer seemed realistic for her to have a room all the way over on the other side of the building.

Of course, Selphie said, "Have you moved in with Squall?" But Rinoa laughed and said she was only visiting. Things were going so well with her father, she lived _there_ now. She was only stopping the night. Or the week. She would never linger around Balamb while he was away on missions, always finding something elsewhere to occupy her.

For a long time, Squall kidded himself that she was only visiting him too. Her sight of her toothbrush next to his in the bathroom seemed so normal, it never occurred to him that it shouldn't be there permanently if it were property of a 'visitor'. He'd got instantly used to seeing her pyjamas next to his, her spare clothes in the closet. Even her CDs and stuff carefully littered next to his seemed natural, he didn't mind.

He noticed the frames, though. The pictures of her and him, and their friends, dotted around the place. That irritated him at first –like he needed to remember what she looked like! He saw her every day. It was quite controlling, he decided, quite invading. Too personal and unnecessary. He didn't like how he came out in photos anyway, and what was the point of them? That was what memories were for. He didn't need to me reminded of what had passed, he just needed to think about it. That all photos were, anyway. Flimsy replacements for actual memories. But he didn't complain to her though, just in case it upset her. After all, he did like her there.

But all the same, he didn't like them.

Until, one day, he was rummaging around in the bottom of his draw and accidentally knocked one of them off. There was a loud crack.

Squall looked at it dismally and wondered what he should do. Throw it away? Would Rinoa notice? Maybe he should find another frame, just in case. But it was only one photo, right? She wouldn't miss it surely. Nevertheless, he had to tidy it up.

But when it came to throwing it away, the picture actually caught Squall's eye. It was one Selphie had taken, he thought. One of him and Rinoa on one of the balconies, smiling and hugging each other. Rinoa was looking at the camera as if gesturing for Selphie to snap. His eyes were on her. He wasn't sure now he had even authorised the shot, but he suddenly realised he didn't care.

He turned it over. Rinoa's handwriting looped the back.

_Never just a memory, s_he'd written.

Squall smiled and decided to find it another frame. At the same time, he wrote a note to the upkeep department to install a new wardrobe before he ran out of space. And possibly some more shelves.

It became official unofficially. Rinoa Heartily had moved in with Squall Leonheart.

**.o0o.**

**A/N: Harmless, just rated T because of what happens in the middle, case it offends someone. I know it's fairly blah, but reviews are ALWAYS ALWAYS appreciated. And requests too! I want to do a SelphiexIrvine which ties in with this one- what _is_ Irvine's 'own _secret_ mission'? Anyone interested? Btw, this ties in with all my other FF8 fics.**


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